Sri Lanka's elite Special Forces get ready to deliver a decapitaing stike to LTTE terrorism in Thoppigala

THOPPIGALA, SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's elite Special Forces commandos gather 21 June 2007 in the eastern jungles of Thoppigala during an operation against Tamil Tiger guerrillas. Sri Lanka's military says it is about to wrest total control over the vast jungle area after two months of heavy fighting.

A tragedy of the survivors

The first anniversary of the gruesome terrorist claymore bomb attack on a packed passenger bus at Kongollewa, Kebetigollewa, that claimed more than 60 lives and injured an almost equal number, fell on June 16. The Sunday Times visited the region earlier this week to see the plight of survivors and the security measures in place to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.

The carnage of that day is especially felt by those who lived at Yakawewa, for this farming village lost the most number of people, 54, and the result is that out of 128 families in the village, 45 families, most of whom lost one or more family members are yet in a camp for the displaced in Kebetigollewa.

Some might say many of them are staying on because of the free assistance, but the truth is that all assistance has been stopped and it is a miracle that they are still surviving on a barren piece of land carved out of a small hill called Boralu Kanda.

Kebetigollewa Divisional Secretary H. J. M. Herath confirmed that all state assistance to them had already been stopped as funds were no longer forthcoming from the government. In the past, the allegation against NGOs was that they totally ignored Sinhala villages that faced LTTE violence, but today, NGOs are virtually barred from these areas for fear their Tamil employees could be spying for the LTTE.

So, all that the people have now are the temporary tin roofed shelters provided by the ICRC, the only NGO permitted to operate freely in the entire region, up to the controversial Weli Oya. And it is the ICRC that has provided basic farm implements, seeds and some hand tractors for hundreds of others that fled Yakawewa and surrounding villages like Thalgahawewa, Nikawewa and Kanugahawewa after the attack to resettle and restart their lives. Although the displaced living at Boralu Kanda are refusing to budge, it is apparent that even the ICRC is not being encouraged to give them any assistance here.

Mr. Herath who had voluntarily come here in the aftermath of the attack to assist the then Divisional Secretary as a relief officer and has stayed on to serve the region says that there is a limit to what he can do for the affected people. Under existing government regulations no more than Rs.25,000 can be paid to each family if they are willing to resettle in their original homes and as this sum is hardly adequate considering the cost of things today, the DS is trying to obtain additional assistance from NGOs willing to help.

Out of about ten displaced people we spoke with at the Boralu Kanda camp, only two, a father and his son said they remained there for reasons other than security. Ayurvedic physician P. Dissanayake and his son said they were there for economic reasons. According to Dr. Dissanayake most of his patients are from areas outside Yakawewa and now very few people come to Yakawewa due to security fears and poor transport facilities. From the centrally located Kebetigollewa he was able to conduct dispensaries in several places.

All others cited security fears as the reason for them not returning to their homes. B. Kamalawathi who lost her husband in the bus blast said that the only reason why she survived was that she fell between two seats at the time of the explosion. Though she had recovered from her wounds she is still suffering from severe back pain requiring constant medical attention. Out of her three children only the son is employed as a home guard, while the two young daughters are studying at the Kebetigollewa Central College.

The main reason she attributed to her refusal to return to Yakawewa was that her two daughters are scared to travel by bus since that incident. She and her children are surviving on the son’s salary and the compensation of Rs.150,000 received for the loss of her husband.

M. Chandrawathy who had lost her husband Herath Banda, who too was a home guard, said she with her two small children aged eight and five could not possibly go back to live in their home situated at the edge of the village. Her immediate neighbours too had either died in the blast or had fled the area.

According to Chandrawathy even those who have returned to the village gather at a central location for the night for fear of attacks.

M. Mallika, a relative of Chandrawathy, who had lost her husband in 1997 in a previous LTTE attack, lost her only son in the bus blast. Her woes are many. Those who guarded their village in their absence had stripped and looted much of her household, including doors and electrical wiring and fittings and elephants had devoured much of her fully grown plantation, including 36 coconut trees and 12 jak fruit trees, a plight faced by most others who ran away from their homesteads. “I received only Rs.50,000 as compensation for my lost son, but I need more than Rs.100,000 to restore my six-roomed house to a livable state”, she complains.

Out of her three daughters, the government has given employment to the eldest as a clerk at the Road Development Authority, the other two aged eight and ten are yet schooling. “How can I go back and live with three girls in a house without doors and windows?” asks Mallika.

M. Yasawathy’s only daughter Nirosha Chathurangani had died in the attack while she was on her way to attend a class. Yasawathy said she could not possibly go back with the death of not only her daughter, but several of her close relatives.

When we visited Yakawewa village on Tuesday some families were yet holding alms-giving for their dead relatives on this first anniversary over several days as there aren’t enough monks to have them all in one day.

Even those who have returned most carry physical and mental scars from the incident and their tales of woe are endless. In a house where an alms giving was being held we met a cross section of survivors, almost all of whom are relatives.

M. Ratnayake (50), who had lost the proper use of both his hands as a result of the injuries he suffered, recalled that there were possibly about 200 people packed into that bus from the village that day as many of them were going to attend a funeral at Maha Kuchchikudiya of a nephew, a home guard killed by the LTTE.

Ratnayake said he lost a total of 20 family members in the blast. The only ones to survive from his immediate family are his second son and a daughter, both of whom too are physically and mentally scarred. He has a hard time keeping control over them as they are for ever fighting. Ratnayake unable to do any proper work with his mangled hands obviously has befriended Bacchus with the compensation money he had received for lost relatives.

Another survivor, M. Chandrasena whose son Ratnasiri was killed in the blast is still concerned about the security. He said the bunker line that had been built from Weli Oya to nearby Dutuwewa after the attack was far too close for comfort.

U.B. Piyadasa of Dutuwewa said though the bunker line stretching some 26 kilometres was built up to Dutuwewa police post and manned day and night by home guards and army, there was a wide gap from there onwards for about 12 kilometres in thick jungle through which the Tigers continued to infiltrate and carry out attacks, specially along the old Kebetigollewa-Vavuniya Road, where the bunker line had been halted at the sixth mile post. This once busy roadway has been closed since the devastating bomb attack, but that has not prevented the Tigers from carrying out several hit and run attacks, despite the presence of several police posts along the route.

Piyadasa in fact managed to take us on this road up to the sixth mile post, past several police posts as if we were proceeding to several graphite mines in operation in the nearby jungles. When we reached the sixth mile post the policemen there were shocked to see us and requested us to get back immediately. But it was obvious to anyone how easy it is for the Tigers to strike at will as the left side of the road was entirely covered in thick jungle without a bunker line to prevent infiltration from that side.
Ven. Viharahalmillawe Dhammarakkitha Thera the chief monk in the area said they had already made representations to the government to get the bunker line extended to achieve this task, but he saw the virgin thick jungle as a spoiler.

Security sources in the region too said that as it was thick jungle they would require a much larger contingent of additional personnel to achieve the task. It was not only the bunker line that has to be secured, but even approach and supply paths.

Another grave complaint of many of those returnees is the inadequate transport to affected villages as there was only one bus to serve them all. M. Sumanawathy of Dutuwewa said often her children do not attend school when the bus does not turn up and when the bus is not there in the afternoon the children had to trek back on foot from Kebetigollewa.

W. Ariyadasa said families who had motorcycles manage to send their children to school when the bus does not arrive, but others simply stay at home.

But the military that is responsible for the security of the area are not unaware of these problems. Military sources said they somehow try to ensure that the single bus does at least five turns for a day. And they had distributed about 150 bicycles among schoolchildren of the affected villages provided by philanthropists.

The military has even obtained 50 scholarships for some of the affected children. The government employing several thousand home guards at Rs.480 per day too has given a tremendous boost to these people, who will be otherwise left to fend for themselves.

Our visit to the Kebetigollewa CTB depot was a real eye opener as to the type of neglect the area had been subjected to despite it being most vulnerable. We counted about 50 unserviceable buses left exposed to the elements. When we asked the Depot Superintendent E. Malalaratne, why nothing was being done to auction them, he maintained he was not empowered to do so.

According to the DS, who had only assumed duties early this year he needed 54 buses to run services according to time table, but he had only 25 in road worthy condition.

He had received only one bus since assuming duties to replace the one destroyed by the terrorist attack. The salaries of employees for the month of May are in arrears to the tune of Rs1.5 million and we saw many employees arguing over their balance salaries and the DS does not know how he would meet this month’s salaries either.

With 254 employees for 25 buses one can imagine the plight of the depot. This region being far flung and the roads being badly maintained, he says one cannot expect to turn a profit by simply adding buses either as some of the areas they are serving have only about 30 families and a single violent incident is enough to drop the passenger load to zero.

Mr. Malalaratne says the only money earner for them are the Kebetigollewa- Anuradhapura and Kebetigollewa- Pulmudai routes, but here, they have to compete with private operators, who shun all other interior routes where the wear and tear is very high on vehicles and even the consumption of diesel is excessive due to the bad state of those roads.

(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070624/News/nws23.html)

TNA fires questions over HSZ in Mutur

* Claims govt. plans to set up coal power plant
* Villagers to be relocated to uncultivable land

The Government’s decision to declare a High Security Zone (HSZ) around the Mutur east area of the Trincomalee district, is to be taken up by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Courts, amidst a campaign to brief diplomatic missions about the issue.


The TNA met with diplomats from the US, France, Canada, Sweden and India on Thursday and briefed them about the displacement that would take place. The TNA also claims that part of the area is to be used to set up the proposed controversial coal power project. About 15,000 civilians from Tamil populated villages would have to be relocated from 12 Grama Sevaka divisions including Sampur East, Sampur West, Uppural, Paddalipuram, Navaratnapuram, Pallkudiyeruppu, Kaddaiparichchan North and Kaddaiparichchan South.

The High Security Zone was declared in a special gazette notification issued on May 30 with Major General Parakrama Pannipitiya being appointed as the Competent Authority.

According to the gazette any person violating the regulations could be liable to a term of Rigorous Imprisonment for not less than three months and not exceeding five years and a fine of not less than Rs. 500,000. Any vessel found in the area could be confiscated.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake responding to the adjournment question raised by TNA Parliamentary group leader Mr. R.Sampanthan on Tuesday said the High security zone has been declared due to security reasons and that it cannot reversed.

Mr. .Sampanthan said that he had not been consulted over the declaration of the HSZ though he was an MP representing the district.

At least 19 schools, 27 temples and 88 irrigation tanks fall within this decalred HSZ. The area also has about 2,000 hectares of grazing land for livestock owned by the people in the area. Farming, fishing and livestock breeding are the main sources of income for the villagers.

Mr. Sampanthan told Parliament though the gazette notification mentioned about a schedule it was not very clear. He also called on the government to refrain from implementing the regulations and rescind them.

The villagers from areas that would come under the HSZ are to be relocated in Ralkuli and Kanguveli which are reported to be areas that cannot be used for cultivation and goes regularly under water during the rainy season.

Meanwhile TNA MP K. Thurairathnasingham told The Sunday Times that so far 500 acres of land have been acquired and some houses have been brought down and roads widened for the proposed coal power project. He said according to the government’s plan villagers who once owned several acres of land will now be restricted to owning 10 perches of land.

“We want to know why at least the MPs in the area were not informed about such a drastic decision?” he asked. The move to go ahead with the coal power project in Trincomalee comes as the proposed plant at Norochchoalai is at a standstill with the Chinese delaying its commencement.

(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070624/News/nws12.html)

Heavy casualties as war intensifies

* President meets Solheim in Geneva, wants commitment from Prabha
* Recruitment of 50,000 more troops to continue war; Service Chiefs to be elevated
* Troops clear more parts of the East, but heavy battles in the north

For many reasons than one, the ongoing undeclared Eelam War IV is assuming increasingly greater significance. In Geneva, last week, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Norway's peace facilitators that the Government's military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would continue. It could only be halted if their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, pledged to cease violence and declared he was willing to talk peace.

His remarks came during a meeting with Erik Solheim, Minister for International Development and the most important player in the Sri Lankan peace process. He met Mr. Rajapaksa together with Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer and three Norwegian officials at a suite in the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. Weeks earlier, Norway had sought this meeting.It was Mr. Solheim who raised the question - what does the Government of Sri Lanka now want Norway to do?

President Rajapaksa replied, "I do not want to pursue a military solution. I want to talk with the LTTE without any pre-conditions. Velupillai Prabhakaran must convey his moves and not others." He made clear if there was an assurance from the LTTE leader that guerrilla attacks would cease, the Government would follow suit. He urged Norway to continue its efforts to bring the guerrillas to the negotiation table. He also took the opportunity to express his displeasure over how the Sri Lankan delegation had been treated when they were last in Oslo. He alleged that whilst they were largely confined to their rooms, members of the LTTE delegation have had what he called a field day.

President Rajapaksa did not favour an immediate visit to Sri Lanka by Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer. For many weeks, Norway had wanted to ascertain both from the Government and the LTTE their respective stances over the peace process. After the Geneva meeting, sounding out the LTTE, it was felt, would have helped discern their current position. The idea was to ascertain whether there was "even a remote window of opportunity," said a diplomatic source.



President Rajapaksa was of the view that Norway should make contact with the LTTE leadership from Oslo since a visit at this juncture would not be opportune. Even if he did not say so, the Government would have found it difficult to facilitate such a visit in the coming weeks. There was heightened military activity in southern parts of the Wanni, particularly west of the A-9 highway. It would have necessitated the suspension of such activity, a move that would have drawn protests from military commanders. On the other hand, if the President was awaiting word from Mr. Prabhakaran, it seemed unlikely. He was too busy with war preparations too.

The Rajapaksa-Solheim dialogue came ahead of the meeting of the Donor Co-chairs of the peace process in the Norwegian capital of Oslo tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday. This meeting by officials of the United States, Japan, member countries of the European Union and Norway is to take stock of developments in Sri Lanka. Though Indian officials from New Delhi were invited, their envoy in Oslo is now expected to attend the meeting as an observer. US Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher, Japan's Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi, Andreas Michaelis, Director-General representing the EU Presidency, and James Morran of the European Commission will take part. An official statement by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said "Norway does not intend to make any public statements after the Co-Chairs meeting."



In his first dialogue with Norway's peace facilitators after a break of over a year, President Rajapaksa, has made it unequivocally clear the war on the LTTE will continue. This is not withstanding his assertion that he was not committed to a military solution. In reality, at least for the moment, the clarification of his Government's position leaves Norway with only "remote control diplomacy." The peace facilitator has heard the Government of Sri Lanka in Geneva and not in Colombo. And the President has told them they could hear the LTTE by making contacts from Norway. A visit to Sri Lanka has thus been stalled.

In reality, Norway's peace facilitator role has been, at least for now, temporarily confined to outside the shores of Sri Lanka. Perhaps the only exception is its diplomatic mission in Colombo. Added to that, the second arm of the peace facilitator mechanism, the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has also become curtailed. The SLMM has declared it would no longer issue rulings. Though not expressly required by the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002, they have been giving such rulings. This was when incidents were too few and the ceasefire was more effective.

"This is mainly because of the extended number of incidents. We cannot pretend to know every one of them," Thorfinnur Omarsson, media spokesperson for the SLMM told The Sunday Times. "This temporary move, however, did not mean the SLMM will not monitor the ceasefire. We will cover the incidents, have them in our database and issue our own reports," he added. The spokesperson insisted that the decision not to issue rulings was made by the SLMM and not at the instance of anyone in the Government.

By SLMM's own declaration, incidents have risen so much that they find it difficult to keep track of them. An undeclared war has become more potent than the three previous declared phases - Eelam War I, II and III. In the recent weeks, billions of rupees worth of orders have been placed with a number of countries for military hardware, mostly those with offensive capability. The strength of three armed forces is to be raised by 50,000. Troops are being trained how to cope with advanced weapons including a variety of missiles. War preparations are thus widening. The Government has officially declared that even the Ceasefire Agreement was under review though no follow-up action has come forth.

It was only last week that a delegation led by Jayantha Wickremasinghe, Chief Executive Officer of the state owned Lanka Logistics & Technologies Limited, returned from Russia after a procurement mission. Other members were Air Vice Marshal Prashantha de Silva, Director, Aeronautical Engineering in the Sri Lanka Air Force and Flt. Lt. N. Ekanayake. The visit has been arranged by Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga. In Moscow, they visited the MiG-29 factory, Ulan Ude, the manufacturers of Mi-17 helicopters and met with representatives of Rosboronoexport - the state trading arm. They also visited Ukrinmash (in Ukraine), the company that sold the controversial MiG-27 bombers. There have been allegations of corrupt practices over this deal. The tour ended with a visit to Lugansk (410 plant) where an Antonov 32 transport plane overhaul facility is located. Out of the Air Force fleet, only one AN 32 is now said to be operational.

The Government wanted to go ahead with the procurement of five MiG-29 aircraft including a UB trainer. This was purportedly on the grounds that they were needed to phase out the MiG-27s that were taken delivery of only in December, last year. In the light of disclosures in The Sunday Times (Situation Report) and after the Opposition raised issue in Parliament, there is now re-thinking on this massive deal. The Government is to drop the procurement of MiG-29s and is now examining a cheaper equivalent. But other procurements and services from Russia are still in the pipeline.

Besides Russia, other countries with which deals have been made or are in the making include Bulgaria, China, Israel and Pakistan. A deal for the Navy with Bulgaria has been delayed due to lengthy procedures laid down by the European Union. Bulgaria became a member of the EU on January 1, this year. Sri Lanka is required to meet the criteria set by the EU to facilitate an export licence before Bulgaria is able to supply the items required.

The armed forces have embarked on a programme to enhance their strength by 50,000. The Army will recruit 25,000 more whilst the Navy will recruit 15,000 and the Air Force 10,000. Each service arm has formed its own Co-ordinating Committee to monitor the recruitment process and to ensure the targets set are achieved. They will meet periodically to review the progress.

The Sri Lanka Army now has an approved cadre of over 100,000. That strength, at least on paper, exceeds the strength of the British Army. However, Since January 1, 2005 until April 20, 2007, Army records reveal that a total of 93 officers and 10,060 other ranks have deserted their posts. Some availed themselves of periodic general amnesties. The last general amnesty from January 20 to February 12 this year saw a total of 3979 (2758 regulars and 1221 volunteers) return to service. Added to these are the vacancies caused by troops killed or left out of battle due to injuries.

Enhancing the strength of the Army has drawn mixed reactions from serving senior officers. Some are of the view that existing battalions, with some exceptions, are under strength. Whilst the ideal strength was 855 troops per battalion, there were some with a strength of 400 to 500 troops. Hence, they were of the view that depleted battalions should be merged and made full strength to ensure the maximum utilisation of resources. But others held a different view.

Though depleted, allowing the battalions to remain that way, they argue, enabled them (though small in number) to obtain their entitlements. More importantly, it also means an increase in the number of officer cadres thus throwing open the doors for rapid promotions. When the recruitments are complete, the rank of the Commander of the Army could rise from Lieutenant General to a four star General. Similarly, there will be an elevation in equivalent ranks in the Navy and the Air Force.

It is against this backdrop of greater militarization that military action is being intensified both in the North and the East. The focus of such action in the North in the recent weeks is the Wanni region, areas ahead of the defended localities of the Security Forces west of the Omanthai entry-exit point. They had in fact re-adjusted their Forward Defence Lines (FDL) further to the front from their original position.

On June 2, the 56 Division (four battalions) and 57 Division (seven battalions) launched a limited pre-dawn operation to seize more terrain. The general areas of Villatikulam, North and North West of the village of Kalmadu (already under Security Forces control) were the scenes of fierce battles.

By 8 a.m. that day, Tiger guerrillas launched a counter attack. Groups of guerrillas confronted the troops almost head on. Heavy fighting continued for over seven hours. Troops were forced to make a tactical withdrawal. Later that evening, the guerrillas fired 130 mm artillery. More than 800 of the Army's own 130 mm artillery shells were destroyed after one of them fell at a storage area south east of Pompeimadu. It led to deafening explosions and a massive bonfire. During the fighting, a group of guerrillas made an attempt to infiltrate the defence lines. Four of them were shot dead. Sporadic fighting in the area has continued in the past several days. Troops are making repeated efforts to move into the area. They are meeting with heavy resistance.

Security Forces were tight lipped about their own casualties. The Sunday Times has learnt from highly placed Army sources that five officers and 67 soldiers were killed. A further two officers and 24 soldiers are declared missing in action. Twenty officers and 298 soldiers were wounded in action. These sources claimed that 800 guerrillas were killed and a further 700 were wounded. The claims of guerrilla casualties, no doubt, are on the higher side.

Adding statistics of claimed guerrilla deaths as well as injuries in the recent months would have surpassed the numbers military top brass give as the total strength of the LTTE. Independent verification of guerrilla casualty figures is not possible. Among the items the Army lost was an armoured Buffel troop carrier that had moved to evacuate casualties, a Jeep, arms and ammunition. A 152 mm heavy artillery gun was damaged.

In the East, since the re-capture of Vakarai the Army had continued their operations until areas astride the A-5 Maha Oya-Chenkaladi Road were brought under Government control. Another operation to seize areas in and around Baroni’s Cap or Thoppigala - Narakamulla began on June 8. Before the crack of dawn that day, commandos ventured into guerrilla-held area to launch attacks on their camps. Some of the camps were captured and later destroyed. By 7.30 a.m. ahead of the villages of Panjimarathadi and Narakamulla, the guerrillas launched fierce counter attacks. By evening troops were forced to make a tactical withdrawal to their original positions north of Rugam.

The next day troops fired artillery at guerrilla positions. It drew retaliatory fire. In the days that followed, they gradually advanced to encompass the area. Bitter fighting continues. Although the original guerrilla strength in the area was said to be around 400, the numbers had dwindled to just over 200 this week - an indication that the guerrillas were withdrawing despite a siege of sorts. At least four guerrillas who surrendered have told the Security Forces how unknown soldiers and members of the Karuna faction, who were held prisoner had been killed by the guerrillas. A prelude to an ultimate withdrawal has also seen the guerrillas trying to step up pressure on the Security Forces. However, they feel the re-capture of the areas, the accomplishment of their aim, is only days away.

In the fighting 15 soldiers have been killed. Six officers and 142 soldiers have been wounded, according to highly placed Army sources. These sources claimed 400 guerrillas were killed and 100 more were wounded. Here again the number is on the higher side. If past guerrilla casualties in the East were added to these figures, it would have exceeded the guerrilla strength there. Independent verification of guerrilla casualties is not possible. The LTTE has in the recent years been playing down its casualty figures. This is where the axiom that truth is the first casualty of war becomes relevant.

At Karadiyanaru, south east of the areas where heavy fighting is now under way, commandos of the Special Task Force (Police) seized a desk top computer used by a senior guerrilla cadre. It was to make some interesting revelations. Commandant of the STF, Nimal Lewke, DIG, told a high level security conference this week that a number of names of those helping the LTTE were found in the computer records. Also found were the names of journalists dealing with the LTTE including some of them from the state media.

The name of a middle aged person from the south, now running a shop in the Welikanda area, has also transpired. This person is said to have worked in the staff of a senior Cabinet Minister who is now closely associating himself with the peace process. There were also records of artillery and ammunition stocks. The regular conference was held to assess the security situation.

It was not only Government leaders, bureaucrats and military top brass who were pre-occupied with security concerns this week. So were some of the country's aid donors. Though Japan's Special Envoy to the peace process, Yasushi Akashi, declared after his visit to Colombo last month there would not be any cut in aid, Tokyo has begun an assessment of fresh aid requirements. Japan is Sri Lanka’s largest aid donor. A delegation from the Japanese Treasury and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in Colombo for this purpose. At a conference at the Treasury, Brigadier Upul Perera, Director Operations at Army Headquarters gave them a briefing on the security situation. Several probing questions followed. One was the closure of the Bandaranaike Internatio-nal Airport during nights. It was Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera who announced that it would be open for night flights from next month. It has now been decided that the flight ban from 10.30 p.m. to 4 a.m. would be lifted from July 1.

Another visitor was John Dennis, Additional Director for Asia in Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His mission was also to ascertain latest developments in Sri Lanka including opportunities for peace initiatives. This is in the wake of outgoing Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s plans to play the role of a peace broker after retirement. He wants to include Sri Lanka’s case among conflicts where he wants to undertake a mediatory role.

In the wake of stepped up offensives by the Security Forces both in the North and the East, the LTTE appears to have gone into a defensive posture. Several measures to stall a possible advance by troops into guerrilla held areas in the North have been taken. This is by no means an indication that they will cease to play offensive roles. Measures to disrupt normal life in the City by attacking military targets are very much a possibility. This is in addition to threats posed to security installations and military top brass in the North in particular. State intelligence agencies warn that small group attacks, as against conventional type of assault on targets, were being planned. The LTTE has also begun to face a problem of forced conscripts deserting ranks.

Large quantities of anti-tank mines were being planted in areas facing Security Forces FDLs. In the past months, there has also been a marked change in what symbolises a guerrilla cadre – the glass cyanide capsule worn around their necks like a pendant with a black cord. Upon capture, they were known to bite the capsule resulting in instant death. They have now begun to increasingly use a new device - an explosive laden suicide belt. There is a new rationale for its use. Upon capture, detonating the belt results not only in the death of the cadre but also those who capture them.

Whilst stepping up the military offensives in the North and the East, the defence establishment is now devising new ways and means of heightening their publicity drives. This is particularly in the light of political developments that have generated adverse publicity and thus given them a poor public image. Top rungers in the defence establishment believe fresh initiatives to project the "vast military gains" would reverse this situation. One such measure is to brief members of the clergy representing important temples in the country. Military top brass are to give them a full briefing next week on successes in the North and East and the plans that have gone in so far to "defeat" the LTTE.

The idea is to get them to go back to their towns and villages and tell the public there of what they have learnt.
The re-capture of more areas in the East is now a matter of time. This week additional troops have been poured into the area. The move, however, will not rid guerrilla presence completely. The pattern throughout the war has been to resist, allow the troops to spread out and then withdraw. Already troops hold more areas in the East than before. The phenomenon of sporadic attacks therefore will not disappear altogether.

In the North, however, it is a different story. The battles at Vilattiukulam in the Wanni have shown that the guerrillas are offering fierce resistance. They have pumped in additional cadres. This only means more and heavier fighting. Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is running the military machine, told foreign correspondents recently that he needs three years to finish the LTTE. The acquisition of new weaponry and the expansion of the military strength will only mean an additional financial burden. This is at a time when the cost of living is proving to be a heavier burden on the public and unbridled corruption including those in military procurements is on the rise.

When the new recruitment drive is over, the total military strength – Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Special Task Force, Home Guards would be over 300,000. Although military top brass have repeatedly placed the LTTE strength at less than 3,500, intelligence estimates say they are now 20,000 to 25,000. Yet, the disparity in the ratio has continued throughout the different phases of the separatist war. Against this backdrop, the biggest question that looms large is the money to fight the stepped-up war.

One of the oft-repeated assertions at recent meetings of the National Security Council is from Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera. He says there is no money in the Treasury, much to the chagrin of defence and security higher ups. The only option that remains is to call upon the public to tighten their belts even further by making more sacrifices. That is the stark reality, or the naked truth, even if top sleuths choose to visit home in the night to question how such things could be said. No amount of propaganda can hide them.

(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070624/Columns/sitreport.html)

Sri Lankan elite Special Task Force (STF) police commandos look for explosives

Sri Lankan elite Special Task Force (STF) police commandos look for explosives after a Claymore mine was found in Colombo June 26, 2007. Bomb squad officers said they found the 20 kg mine -- like those used as roadside bombs in a series of deadly suspected rebel attacks in recent months -- buried in a residential quarter of the city. REUTERS/Buddhika Weerasinghe (SRI LANKA)

A tragic ambush - 1994 April

(http://www.rivira.lk/2007/06/17/ranabima.htm)

Note: This tragic ambush happened way back in 1994 when there was an offensive to capture Thoppigala was ongoing which ultimately succeeded. However LTTE crawled into Thoppigala when troops deployed there were redeployed in the north.

"In the recent Muhamalai battle II which went wrong for the SLA (although SLA killed over 200 tigers in that), a couple of SLA platoons, many with wounded, got separated from the main units and were later captured by the LTTE and carted off to somewhere in the Vanni. There, the LTTE women cadres are reported to have first danced around the terrified captives screaming wildly and started hacking them with machetes and swords. This info. which came from a Karuna mole in the LTTE, was later confirmed when the dead bodies were handed over to the ICRC and delivered to the SLA whereby almost all the bodies were noticed to have deep cut wounds that a soldier would not get in today's battles.

So, the LTTE treatment of captured SLDF boys is nothing new. I've heard many other stories with gruesome details, but as those have not been published in the media.

When you think that these are the same killers who have raided poor Sinhela farming villages in the Trinco/Ampara districts and carried out horrific atrocities, it is easy to understand this sort of cruelty to captured soldiers is nothing.

In the village attacks, the typical modus-operandi is as follows:

First the LTTE raiders would forcefully grab the infants off their mothers protective hands and then taking the infants by the legs, smash their skulls on mud huts and tree trunks so that the brain matter from the burst skulls would splash onto the screaming mothers who would then be either summarily shot, hacked and left to bleed, or instantly beheaded."

(https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9079007316930841006&
postID=8968669295004395150)

Amnesty International also highlighted the following information about the above mentioned LTTE tactics.

"Kumar* (a pseudonym) was just 12 years old when he smashed the head of a Muslim baby against a wall during an attack on a village. He later described how he felt no remorse about killing the child and then hacking to death the mother. In fact, he said they deserved to die. The attack had been organized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed Tamil opposition group fighting for an independent state called "Tamil Eelam" in the north and east of Sri Lanka."

(http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA010011997?open&of=ENG-BTN)

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) / Sinha Guwan Hamudawa

Bullet used in ACF killing removed from evidence?

A bullet being used in an investigation into the killings of 17 aid workers last August may have been removed from evidence, an international legal watchdog said yesterday.

The International Commission of Jurists said its observer on the probe, senior British lawyer Michael Birnbaum, found signs that a 5.56 calibre bullet was removed and substituted with another type in evidence submitted to local magistrates.

Bullets of 5.56 calibre are used in M-16 rifles, the same type of weapon used by some Sri Lankan special forces, the non-governmental organisation added in a statement.

Seventeen local employees of the French charity Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger) were found shot dead in the charity's offices in the northeastern coastal town of Muttur in August 2006.

The murders still have to be solved. Nordic truce monitors have blamed the Muttur killings on government forces, but the government has denied any role in the massacre.

“Given this new information, the ICJ is calling for the President of Sri Lanka to order renewed, impartial and thorough investigations ... and to ensure those responsible are prosecuted,” the statement said.

Mr. Birnbaum had already raised concerns about the ballistics evidence in his main report in April.

In an additional report this month, “he raises serious concerns about evidence that a bullet has been removed from the evidence submitted on March 7 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrates Court in charge of the inquest,” the ICJ said.

Birnbaum's finding revolves around the report of an Australian pathologist, Malcolm Dodd, who reported that eight bullets -- including one 5.56 calibre -- were recovered from seven bodies during a post mortem examination in October 2006.

However, a government analyst later concluded that all of the bullets appeared to be of 7.62 calibre, according to Mr. Birnbaum.

“There is therefore evidence to indicate that the 5.56 calibre bullet was removed from the evidence submitted as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrate, and that another bullet of a different type was substituted,” the ICJ added.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/26/front/05.asp)

Japan helps with "Sri lanka Piece process"

While Defence Authorities probed the LTTE’s acquiring of what was believed to be Chinese built military hardware, it has now been revealed that the rebels possess Japanese manufactured equipment, including radars, a Defence official said. The revelation comes after security forces recovered a powerful radar from an LTTE vessel seized by the Navy following a fierce battle off Point Pedro last week.

“It was manufactured in Japan and it is a custom built item for which the manufacturer could be traced together with the buyer,” the official said.He also said four Yamaha 250 horse power engines which were found from the boat were also products of Japan. “Manufactures don’t normally issue such types of engines without proper permission from a government,” the official added.

Earlier it was revealed the 14.5 mm twin barrel weapons fixed on the vessel were Chinese manufactured prompting the relevant authorities to take up the matter with the Chinese government.

The Navy recovered the radar along with several weapons and a Global Positioning System (GPS) from the damaged LTTE vessel last week.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/26/front/04.asp)

SF troops rattle LTTE movement; 13 terrorists killed- Vavuniya

The Sri Lankan Army Special Forces (SF) troops rattled an LTTE movement attempting to breach the forward defences west of Omantahi, killing 13 terrorists, while injuring over a dozen other LTTE cadres in a fierce duel, yesterday (23).

According to the Special Force troops, two LTTE terrorist were killed initially attempting to infiltrate the defence lines, at around 09.00a.m, when the alert observation units retaliated.

Later according to the Army officials, the elite forces engaged a large column of terrorists between Madhu and Omantai, when they tried to enter the liberated areas, and drew heavy fire from the Army troops. 11 terrorists were killed while the LTTE concentration was dispersed into all directions, rattled by the enormous SF fire power.

The Special Forces corps, a battle hardened elite unit of the SL security forces, who with their enormous fire capability is a most feared combat unit amongst the LTTE.

(http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070624_04)

London Police ready to file action against Shanthan – Tiger leader in UK

Latest reports from London indicate that London Metropolitan Police who holds A.C.Santhan, Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Britain at the Paddingtomn Green Police Station, has decided to file action against him.

The Police have decided to file initially the charge of “conspiring to collect funds for a proscribed organization. “

The reference to “a proscribed organization” in the charge sheet points to the proscription of the Tamil Tigers on 28 February 2001 under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Shanthan has been arrested and held in police custody under the Terrorism Act. Sources revealed that anyone arrested under the Terrorism Act is allowed to be held under Police custody for 28 days.

In case the Police need to hold a person for more than 28 days they could do so on a special court’s order.

Information revealed after the arrest of Shanthan, police has raided four properties located in the South London yesterday.

It is further revealed that Police has taken with them large amount of documents from the houses they raided. Also it is learnt they have taken with them several computers and documents.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6259)

Shanthan – the key to Tiger operations in UK

The arrest of A. C. Shanthan, the No: 1 Tiger agent in UK, has been a big blow to the Tiger movement in Europe. His links to Anton Balasingham, the London-based ideologue, makes him one of the principal agents of the Tigers. Shanthan who is held in Paddington Green, Paddington is being continuously grilled by the Police in United Kingdom regarding the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Shanthan was arrested under Terrorism Act and Police expect him to be a mine of information on Tamil Tiger operations in Europe.

It is learnt that UK police are liaising with the French police to investigate clues leading to the murder of two LTTE operatives in Paris a few years ago. Kandiah Perinpanathan formerly the LTTE's treasurer and Kajan of the Eelamurasu were killed in Paris.

Police sources alleged that Shanthan in operations that involved forcible collection of funds, threats, intimidations, abductions, illegal confinement of those opposed to the LTTE, and harassment and torture.

According to police sources, Shanthan is the man behind the operations of his second in command Robert Soosaipillai who was involved in abducting and illegally confining Tamil diaporas and harassing and torturing.

UK Police according to reliable sources have details of abducting and confining anti-LTTE people at Thamilini Cash and Carry located at South hall, Middlesex which earlier belonged to the LTTE. Now it is owned by one Aravinthan and Ilankovan. One of the partners Ilankovan is now under arrest in Chennai on allegation of credit card scam.

Police sources revealed that abducted Tamils are taken to the storeroom of the Tamilini Cash and Carry and their hands and feet tied, mouth plastered and harassed and tortured.

Sources close to the police also revealed that Shanthan has a property in Katherine Road in Eastham, a safe-house used for illegal confinement.

Police sources revealed that Shanthan was involved in credit skimming, cloning and credit card scam.

Further more police suspects that Shanthan is involved in money laundering. Two private money exchanges owned by a Tamil man and woman located near the Hydepark and Marble Arch tube stations were made use by Shanthan for the money laundering activities.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6243)

UK anti-errorist police strike at LTTE

Fifty-one year old A.C.Shanthan, a relative of LTTE leader Pirihaparan's wife Mathivathani by marriage and formerly closely associated with "Col Kittu" who committed suicide when confronted by the Indian navy, was arrested early yesterday morning by the British anti-terrorism police and intelligence agents at his house.

More than 20 armed policemen has surrounded his house and arrested Shanthan in connection with LTTE activities which are prohibited in the UK because the LTTE is a proscribed organization.

Shanthan is the President of the British Tamil Association but the police think that he is the LTTE's UK head.

Also arrested yesterday morning was 29-year old Goldan Lambert also from the BTA.

Police have been monitoring their activities for a long time after they had organized a big meeting at London's Hyde Park in support of the LTTE and speakers praised the LTTE and its leader.

Police found according to a police source as Shanthan was involved in numerous illegal activities in United Kingdom. Police is of the opinion that Shanthan was involved in abduction, illegal detentions, harassment and torture of Tamils who opposed the LTTE in London.

Police had information from several other police forces and from investigations after the arrest in India of one Ilankovan, a shareholder of Tamilini, a cash-and-carry store in the UK.

Shathan is also suspected of laundering money for the LTTE using several money exchange businesses including some situated in central London.

Recently the LTTE has been trying to sell several of its assets including property.

Why the LTTE is trying to get rid of them, some inside sources say, is because it needs hard cash to buy arms urgently in order to meet military attacks in the Jaffna peninsula which are being planned.

Shanthan who hails from Udupiddy has been watched by police because of reports that members of the Tamil community have been harrassed and forced to donate funds to the LTTE. Many Tamil businessmen and families have been forced to contribute to wards the "final war". They have been even threatened with abduction if they do not contribute.

One of the properties that Shanthan has been trying to sell is in East Ham. It used to be occupied several years ago by Daya Master who returned to the Wanni and is now the LTTE's spokesman. This property has been used as a safe house and also to keep persons Shanthan has kept under detention.

Police are said to be investigating several other Tamils and Tamil businesses closely associated with Shanthan.

One person who was recently interrogated by the police is Anandevi Perimpanayagam to find out about the movement of money according to information released by Tamil sources.

Several money exchanges and travel businesses are being watched by police who think that money transactions that eventually go into LTTE funds are going on in some of them.
Police also think that Shanthan, his second in command Robert Soosaipillai and his associates have been involved in credit card scam and also involved in skimming and cloning credit cards that have been used by LTTE cadres in many parts of the world. Some of those cadres have been arrested abroad.

Police who have investigated the recent credit card scams at petrol filling stations is several parts of the UK are also looking for connections between that and the LTTE.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6233)

North-east insurgents in Britain

The perceptible increase in the bloody manifestations of the several insurgencies in the north-east, more particularly that conducted by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has more to do with geopolitics than any expectation of success in their mission. ULFA’s mindless attacks on Hindi-speaking migrant labour and petty businessmen have already boomeranged at some places when terrorists caught in the act of extortion were lynched. That sentiment has yet to acquire the momentum of a groundswell but it should give the ULFA something to pause and ponder.

So far as the talks with the NSCN (I-M) are concerned, they have pulled back several times from the brink of collapse which would have ignited a fresh round of open hostilities. The current ceasefire is up for renewal and there are signs of frustration among the insurgents that there have been no tangible signs of progress.

Central to the Naga issue is the integration of Naga majority areas in contiguous States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur which are vehemently opposed to the creation “Greater Nagaland”. On at least one occasion the depth of antagonism became came upfront. Manipur burst into flames during the NDA regime when Delhi indicated it might consider the demand. On the other hand, the Nagaland assembly has on several occasions passed resolutions calling for integration of Naga areas.

Between the two postures there does not appear to be much room for manoeuvre, calls for “transparency” notwithstanding. The geopolitical scenario is also acquiring new dimensions. Last year the NSCN (I-M) delegation had travelled to China raising the spectre of a fresh dose of Chinese-sponsored insurgency on India’s north-eastern flank. The latest development in which China has asserted its claims on Arunachal Pradesh will further tend to muddy prospects for peace not just in the north-east but further afield as well.

A British Labour MP of Kashmiri descent, Lord Nazir Ahmed, has once again managed to bring together in London in May on one platform the Sikh Khalistani separatists and the Naga (I-M) group. The worrying aspect is that here is British lawmaker who is involved in promoting “self-determination” for organisations that have not hesitated to use terror tactics in trying to attain their goal of separation. This, even as Britain itself is suffering the consequences of terrorist attacks from home-grown Islamic fundamentalists who have received training and indoctrination in Pakistan. It is natural in this context to put question marks over the West’s commitment to fight terrorism.

The London conclave adopted a resolution that devoted a paragraph on “Indian colonialism” against the Kashmiris, the Nagas, Assamese, the people of Manipur, the Bodos, but the central theme was the revival of the Khalistan movement in Punjab. Ever since the Sikh separatists were crushed in the late 80s, Pakistan has been maintaining a special cell within the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to try and resuscitate it and one of its former directors-general was appointed to head the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. His name is Lt-General Javed Naseer. The sporadic bomb blasts in Delhi and Punjab two years ago were credited to the Babbar Khalsa which is funded and maintained by the ISI.

Instead of making its displeasure known to the NSCN (I-M) for attending the London conclave it would be more appropriate for Delhi to take up the matter with London and let it know that such dual standards of fighting global terrorism on the one hand and pandering to it on the other will not be in its own interest much less of India’s.

The consequences of such encouragement to terrorism have long-term effect and India must jog British memory to the days when “President” of Khalistan Jagjit Singh Chauhan (he died recently in India) who was provided consular facilities by the American Government to obtain a passport and Britain provided him sanctuary and the propaganda wherewithal to propagate his brand of terror.

With all the proof at their disposal both Britain and the US should be able to bring more pressure to bear on the Government of Pakistan to stamp out the germs of terrorism that germinate on its soil. But before that they must practice what they preach and in any case dissuade parliamentarians from stoking the embers.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6218)

Karuna imposes taxes on Tamil civilians

Karuna group is now raising fund by imposing taxes on those fishermen living in the Government controlled areas in Batticaloa and Amparai. It is learnt that Karuna group is also collecting information about the individuals and family incomes in the two districts through the Grama Servaka officers. They are preparing a list of the shopkeepers and businesses in the Government controlled area with a view to impose taxes.

On the last 13th , Karuna’s commanders Sinnathamby, Veera, Mangalan and Ranjan met the fishermen in Batticaloa and ordered them to pay taxes due on their boats with immediate effect.

They have ordered that owners of large motorized boat to pay monthly Rs.3000, Karavalai boat Rs. 1500 and Dhoniy Rs. 1000 each

Karuna’s Group also has imposed Rs. 100/ per bullock-cart for a cart load of sand to the cart owners.

Three-wheelers in the Batticaloa – Amparai districts are ordered to pay monthly Rs.2500 as tax to the Karuna group. In the beginning three-wheeler drivers in Kalmunai resisted the payment of tax.

Resistance by the three-wheeler drivers was viewed as a challenge to Karuna’s authority in the East.

Subsequently, Gopi Kanth, Karuna’s man in Kalmunai shot and killed one three-wheeler driver who opposed the payment of tax. Following the killing in Kalmunai, it is learnt that the three-wheeler drivers have already submitted and started paying taxes to Karuna group.

People in the East who live in the Government controlled areas are petrified because of the threats from the Karuna group.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6241)

Tiger supporter P. Nedumaran of Tamil Nadu wanted in the UK

Police in London are searching for P. Nedumaran, head of the World Tamil Movement (WTM), who had slipped into UK to participate in functions organized by the Tamil Tigers. The WTM is a front organisation of the Tamil Tigers and it is learnt that Nedumaran, who had been jailed in India for his pro-Tiger activities, was instructed by Velupillai Prabhakaran to join the Tamil Tiger agents in their separatist campaigns in Europe.

Police in London want him for questioning. But it appears that Nedumaran had slipped out of London. Police sources, however, are of the view he is still in London.

P. Nedumaran, the South Indian Tamil politician who is one of the leading heads of the Tiger movement in Tamil Nadu, is a close political ally of Prabhakaran and is known to be actively engaged in Tiger activities in India. In one of the meetings held in London, he has urged the Tamil diaspora in the west to liberally contribute funds to Tamil Tigers. He has argued that the Tigers are urgently in need of funds to purchase military hardware to fight the final battle against the Sri Lanka Government.

The mission assigned to him by Prabhakaran is to generate more funds for the Tamil Tigers and to propagate the politics of the Tigers. He is known to be a popular agitator and a propagandist with an ability to rouse communal hatred.

According to available information he had participated in a couple of public functions in London and later entered Switzerland to participate in the Tiger protest march in front of the United Nations office building. He had also joined the Tigers’ protest in which the LTTE flag was hoisted in front of the UN building as part of their propaganda campaign.

After that he had returned to London it was initially reported as he was staying with Daya Idaikadar. This was further confirmed when he contacted a representative of the EROS.

According to some sources Nedumaran is residing in London with the Tiger agents in UK in a secret location in London and has met up with N. Seevaratnam, the ousted Chairman of the Sivayogam Trust, Dr. Sathiyamoorthy of White Pigeon, Velupillai Kuhanendran, a Consultant working for Kingston Council and the Ravi Sundaralingam alias Kudambi Ravi (who claims to run EROS) and several others.

Nedumaran has been arrested in Tamil Nadu, India on several occasions over his links with the LTTE. Once he was smuggled into Sri Lanka and Tiger leader V. Prabhakaran personally awarded one of the Tiger honours for services rendered.

UK authorities are investigating as to how he obtained a visa and on what pretext. It is also not known how the Home Office which denied a visa to the leader of TELO, Selvam Adaikalanathan when he tried to visit the UK had agreed to issue a visa to Nedumaran.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6265)

Disappearances: US Style – 39 Persons Unaccounted in name of Counter Terrorism

In the most comprehensive accounting to date, six leading human rights organizations in early June 2007 published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown.

The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.

In a related action, three of the groups filed a lawsuit in US federal court under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking the disclosure of information concerning “disappeared” detainees.

The 21-page briefing paper “Off the Record: US Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the ‘War on Terror,’” includes detailed information about four people named as “disappeared” prisoners for the first time. The full list of people includes nationals from countries including Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Spain. They are believed to have been arrested in countries including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan, and transferred to secret US detention centers.

The complete briefing paper can be read at the Human Rights Watch internet site.

The list – drafted by Amnesty International, Cageprisoners, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, Human Rights Watch, and Reprieve – draws together information from government and media sources, as well as from interviews with former prisoners and other witnesses.

“Off the Record” highlights aspects of the CIA detention program that the US government has actively tried to conceal, such as the locations where prisoners may have been held, the mistreatment they endured, and the countries to which they may have been transferred.

It reveals how suspects’ relatives, including wives and children as young as seven years old, have been held in secret detention. In September 2002, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s two young sons, aged seven and nine, were arrested. According to eyewitnesses, the two were held in an adult detention center for at least four months while US agents questioned the children about their father’s whereabouts.

Similarly, when Tanzanian national Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was seized in Gujarat, Pakistan, in July 2004, his Uzbek wife was detained with him.

The human rights groups are calling on the US government to put a permanent end to the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation program, and to disclose the identities, fate, and whereabouts of all detainees currently or previously held at secret facilities operated or overseen by the US government as part of the “war on terror.”

In a related action, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), CCR and the International Human Rights Clinic of NYU School of Law filed a lawsuit on June 7 in US federal court under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking disclosure of information concerning “disappeared” detainees, including “ghost” and unregistered prisoners. AIUSA, CCR and the NYU International Human Rights Clinic filed FOIA requests with several US government agencies, including the Departments of Justice and Defense, and the CIA. These FOIA requests sought information about individuals who are – or have been – held by, or with the involvement of, the US government, where there is no public record of the detentions. Though a few departments produced documents containing little relevant information, no agency provided a list of secretly held detainees or an assessment of the legality of the secret program.

The documents that the groups are seeking are known to exist. President Bush publicly acknowledged the existence of CIA-operated secret prisons in September 2006; 14 detainees from these facilities were transferred to Guantanamo, and the US Department of Justice has issued an analysis concluding that the secret detention program is legal.

Yet information about the location of the prisons, the identity of the prisoners, and the types of interrogation methods used, has never been publicly revealed. This prevents scrutiny by the public or the courts, and leaves detainees vulnerable to abuses that include torture and other ill-treatment.

The secrecy surrounding the program also means that no one outside the US government knows exactly how many prisoners have been detained and how many remain “disappeared.” The April 2007 transfer of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi from CIA custody to Guantanamo indicates that the program continues to operate, although some prisoners may have been transferred to prisons in other countries, possibly as a form of proxy detention. “Off the Record” indicates that some missing detainees may have been moved to countries where they face the risk of torture and where they continue to be held secretly, without charge or trial.

Interviews with prisoners who have been released from secret CIA prisons indicate that low-level detainees have frequently been arrested far from any battlefield, and held in isolation for years without legal recourse or contact with their families or outside agencies. Those who have been released have received no acknowledgment of their detention or any legal or financial redress. (Source: Human Rights Watch)

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6232)

CIA to release 1970s documents on agency’s crimes

The US Central Intelligence Agency is preparing to release a set of documents compiled more than 30 years ago detailing the agency’s involvement over the previous quarter century in crimes both at home and abroad. These included assassination attempts against foreign heads of state, covert spying on newspaper columnists and other US citizens, the infiltration of left-wing groups and the testing of mind-alerting drugs on unwitting American subjects.

The CIA’s current director, Gen. Michael Hayden, announced the decision to release the documents, known within the agency as the “family jewels,” at a conference in Washington Thursday of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

On the contrary, the issues raised in the report—assassinations, domestic spying, kidnappings and torture—are all too familiar to anyone following the activities the CIA and other US security agencies have carried out in the name of the “global war on terrorism.”

The 693-page document was compiled in response to a 1973 directive issued by then-CIA Director James Schlesinger ordering senior agency officials to provide an accounting of all CIA activities that had been conducted in violation of the agency’s charter, which specifically bars it from carrying out domestic operations.

Schlesinger’s order to catalogue these illegal activities was prompted by the arrest of two longtime CIA operatives—E. Howard Hunt and James McCord—in connection with the break-in at the Democratic Party’s Watergate offices. The Watergate crisis exposed broader agency involvement in the so-called “dirty tricks” carried out by the Nixon administration against its political opponents.

It was under these conditions, and in the wake of Richard Nixon’s resignation, that Schlesinger’s successor at the CIA, William Colby, assembled the record of the so-called “skeletons” in the agency’s closet and presented them to President Gerald Ford.

While some of the material in the document had previously been leaked and much of its contents were publicly exposed in the course of House and Senate investigations of the agency—the Pike and Church committees—in the mid-1970s, the CIA had until now steadfastly refused to release the material.

There is little doubt that what is to be made public will be carefully vetted for material that could still incriminate living participants in the crimes of that period, not least of them former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who remains a key advisor of the Bush administration.

In his speech to the historians’ conference, Hayden cautioned: “Remember that nothing about intelligence and declassification happens without human intervention. We do not—we cannot—just kick these things out the door. We have to examine each and every page through the real-world security prism I mentioned. It takes time. It takes care. It takes talent.”

In conjunction with Hayden’s announcement, the National Security Archive at George Washington University posted on its web site a series of documents. These include a summary of the “family jewels” prepared for the US Justice Department and memorandums of conversations between Colby, Schlesinger, Kissinger and Ford on their implications and on how to protect the CIA and the administration itself from the political consequences.

The summary was provided to the Justice Department in December 2004 after a front-page article by Seymour Hersh appeared in the New York Times under a banner headline, “Huge CIA operation reported in US against antiwar forces, other dissidents in Nixon years.”

In an attempt at organizing damage control over the revelations, the CIA, the Justice Department and the White House initiated discussions of the document assembled by the agency.

Among the crimes cited by Colby in his presentation to DOJ was the forcible three-year confinement of a Soviet defector, which Colby acknowledged “might be regarded as a violation of kidnapping laws.”

He also acknowledged multiple episodes of CIA spying on journalists in an attempt to discover their sources. Among those targeted was Jack Anderson and his assistants—including the current right-wing Fox News anchor Brit Hume—Washingon Post national security reporter Michael Getler and two syndicated columnists, Robert Allen and Paul Scott.

Also included in the report were break-ins at the homes of former CIA employees and covert mail openings of letters to and from the Soviet Union and China.

Colby also acknowledged the CIA’s participation in assassination plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro, Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba and Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Colby claimed that the CIA played no active role in the assassination of either Lumumba or Trujillo, but admitted to a “faint connection” between the CIA and the latter’s killers.

The CIA director also admitted that the agency had engaged in spying upon and infiltrating antiwar organizations and other left-wing opponents of the government in the 1960s and 1970s, amassing the names of some 10,000 people active in opposing the Vietnam War.

Also acknowledged was the use of “unwitting” American participants in experiments using drugs being tested for use in interrogations as well as the testing of polygraph and wire-tapping equipment on subjects in the US.

The memorandum of the conversation between Kissinger and Ford portrays the then-secretary of state and architect of some of Washington’s bloodiest crimes as apoplectic. He warned the president that the Times story on massive domestic spying represented “just the tip of the iceberg.” As to the facts not included in the story, he said, “If they come out, blood will flow.” As an example, he pointed to the role played by Robert Kennedy (the former attorney general and president’s brother) in personally directing the assassination campaign against Castro. The implications, he added could be “worse...than Watergate.”

Kissinger noted, the “Chilean thing” was not in Colby’s report, hinting darkly that it was kept out as “sort of a blackmail on me.” In the 1973 Chilean coup, Kissinger and the CIA played the decisive roles in organizing the military overthrow of an elected government and the subsequent reign of terror in which tens of thousands of Chileans were murdered and tortured.

Indeed, this and other crimes were not included in Colby’s “family jewels,” presumably because the CIA hierarchy believed that they did not represent a violation of the charter under which the agency was founded in 1947.

The coup in Chile was only one in a long series of bloodbaths, coups and dirty wars organized by the CIA in Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Congo, Vietnam, Afghanistan and many other countries.

Hayden’s attempt to cast the limited number of crimes that found their way into the dossier compiled by Colby as relics from some distant and long-surpassed era hardly stands up to scrutiny.

Indeed, the release of documents dating from nearly 35 years ago almost has the character of a distraction from far more current and serious crimes being carried out presently.

There is ample evidence that the agency has seldom been involved in as much criminal activity as it is today, while the limited restraints placed upon the national security establishment following the revelations of the mid-1970s have been largely swept aside since 2001, with the enactment of the USA Patriot Act and the assumption of ever-more-sweeping powers, including massive domestic surveillance, by the Bush White House.

In his remarks at the conference in Washington, Hayden acknowledged that the press of increased operations had slowed down some of the agency’s declassification work. “The ops tempo we have maintained since 9/11—and must continue to maintain—is unmatched in our agency’s history,” he said. “The good news here is that we’re producing great stuff for future historians.”

What will this “great stuff” include? Among the current “ops” that have been at least partially exposed is the CIA’s involvement in the illegal abduction of alleged suspects, and their rendition to secret prisons in many parts of the world where they have been subjected to torture and in some cases murdered. CIA agents have been indicted and brought to trial in Italy for one such “extraordinary rendition.”

In addition, CIA death squads and assassination teams have been deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere.

It is unlikely, to say the least, that the agency is preparing the release of documents detailing these criminal activities. As Hayden told his audience of historians, “Of course, we cannot tell the American people everything we do to protect them without damaging our ability to protect them.”

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6252)

Prabhakaran: the spectre haunting human rights activists

One of the most disheartening – one may even call it flawed – reports produced on the current crisis in Sri Lanka is the latest Asia Report 135 of the International Crisis Group (ICG). As the title says, the report deals with Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Crisis. It is disheartening because its runs on the predictable groove of blaming practically everyone – Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), the LTTE, better known as Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan Peace Monitors, the Tamil para-militaries, the international community, the UN, the Sri Lankan judiciary, the commissions of inquiry etc -- without targeting the key area that needs to be addressed for any solution to emerge.

By and large (and predictably) the ICG blames the GOSL. Though the ICG blames the Tamil Tigers intermittently it places the primary responsibility on the GOSL to correct its human rights record. That again is predictable. It concedes that “(T)he government faces a severe security threat, which it has a legitimate right to address. However, its policies are doing little to improve security and are fuelling antagonism among moderate Tamils and other minorities towards the state.”

Its recipe: “Without ignoring or minimising the serious violations of the LTTE, the international community needs to bring more pressure to bear on the government, through UN mechanisms, a reappraisal of aid policies and intensified political engagement. The alternative is a further decline into authoritarianism, violence, terrorism and repression.”

Blaming the international community ICG adds: “The international community has responded to the renewed conflict and human rights abuses, however, in a disjointed and lacklustre way. While there has been some public criticism, there is little sign of a coordinated approach that would put real pressure on the government to change course.”

In conclusion it says: “The international community can no longer afford simply to repeat formulaic criticisms of the government’s human rights violations and express hope that political proposals will be forthcoming. More urgent action is needed, including support for a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council, an across the board reassessment of aid policies and support for more international involvement in monitoring abuses. Until that action is forthcoming, the victims of violence perpetrated by the state, the LTTE, and other armed groups have nowhere to turn.”

In other words, the thrust of the Report is to tie the hands of the GOSL with the tight ropes of human rights – just the recipe required by the Tamil Tigers to vindicate their position with their financial backers in the diaspora to raise more funds to commit more violations of human rights. Not surprisingly this issue comes up each time the Security Forces are advancing into the area controlled by the Tamil Tigers. It began with India stopping the advance of Sri Lankan forces into Vaddamarachci area in the north by dropping lentils over Jaffna. This “humanitarian intervention” was propagated then as a means of winning the hearts and minds of the Jaffna Tamils people who were said to be “persecuted” by the Sri Lankan forces. The disastrous role of the IPKF and its subsequent withdrawal stands as one of the best political and historical answers to the outsiders who pretend to know the solution to the crisis in Sri Lanka.

The analysis leading to the conclusion too is questionable. Based on the popular theories touted by the local NGOs the ICG Report argues that the Sri Lankan crisis can be solved if (1) a political package can be presented to satisfy the aspirations of the Tamils (please note: Tamils only and not the aspirations of the other communities) and (2) human rights issues are addressed to wean away the Tamil moderates from the Tamil Tigers which, hopefully, will return the country to normalcy.

That is the theory though the ICG concedes that there is this little problem of tackling Velupillai Prabhakaran. A fundamental flaw of the ICG Report is its assumption that observing human rights – with GOSL taking full responsibility -- is the magic formula to put an end to the crisis. It argues: “A central part of such a political strategy is respect for due process and the basic rights of citizens. This kind of respect for human rights is necessary to establish the legitimacy of the state and to undercut the sense of grievance that is at the root of any serious insurgency. Harsh counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts aim to deter insurgents and their potential supporters but evidence shows that they often produce an opposite effect.”

But the historical evidence proves that forces bigger than human rights and various peace packages (Indian and Oslo agreements) have failed to bring the Tamil Tigers to the negotiating table, or to keep them there whenever they come to the table. Whatever themerits of human rights are – and no one denies those merits -- and however noble the ideals are the fact remains that nations fighting insurgency never won any battle by waving the UN charter on human rights. The ICG report confirms this when it says that in the period from 2002-2006, when the Ceasefire was in force, the Tamil Tigers took advantage of the reluctance of Ranil Wickremesinghe government to confront the violations of the human rights and the provisions of the CFA, fearing such action would upset the prospects of peace talks. In the end neither peace talks nor human rights gained anything by the so called “confidence building” inaction of the Wickremesinghe-Bradman Weerakoon duo.

So what are the lessons that should be drawn by human rights activists from these historical experiences? Sri Lanka has established a credible record of defeating terrorism when it confronted the JVP and crushed them militarily. But the ICG dismisses the defeat of the JVP as a victory over a “relatively amateur, poorly funded and ineffective fighting force.” It also adds the use of “great brutality and legal and extra-judicial violence……” for the state’s success.

Though there is a modicum of truth in this it is, on the whole, a case of trivializing and misdiagnosing the factors that led to the collapse of the JVP as a violent force. As a fighting force the JVP reached its peak when it reduced the writ of the all-powerful president to the limits of the Colombo city. Even the city was run by kids distributing chits to the terrorised citizens. At its peak it was far better oganised that the amateur forces of the Tigers riding on bicycles in Jaffna murdering unarmed citizens. JVP nearly had, according some estimates, a substantial area under its control. The ICG has missed the salient points that gave succour to the Tiger terrorists. First is the fact that the JVP did not have foreign backers like India who trained them, financed them and armed them to destablise Sri Lanka. Second is the sheer ruthlessness of the Tiger tactics in eliminating their rivals and the licence of impunity given to them to get away with violations of human rights. Third, the Churches dominated by Tamil clergy, with international pastoral networks stretching from home to Rome, were not there to justify their political violence. Fourth, the founding fathers of Marxism who were quick to condemn the JVP as CIA agents were the first to raise their voices in defence of mono-ethnic extremism of northern political class. Fifth, the full force of the organized foreign-funded NGO, backed by foreign governments, was not in existence at the time to lend a hand and political respectability to the JVPers. Sixth, the JVPers did not gain any substantial sympathy from the north (e.g. academics, leftists, and political activists) like the way the Tamils of the north got from the south, despite the cries of Sinhala chauvinism. Seven, the Sinhala diaspora was not sympathetic to the JVPers who also cried discrimination on the basis of language (English/kaduwa) and lack of social mobility. Eight, GOSL was not hampered by the fledgling “civil society” and its human rights issues to deal with the violence unleashed by the JVP. Nine, JVP’s short spurts of violence did not produce a flood of Sinhala migrants who could exploit the benefits of a long-drawn violence (like the Tamils) to gain refugee status and sympathy of the bleeding hearts of the West. Ten, the Tigers cashed in on the cry of discrimination by presenting themselves as the underdog despite the fact that they were the most privileged community that went out to the world and occupied professional heights in Western capitals through the free education system (from the kindergarten to the university) provided by the so-called “Sinhala-dominated governments”. Eleven, though the Tamil and Sinhala youth were stuck in a stagnant colonial economy facing the same socio-economic disabilities and inequalities the JVPers did not have the middle-class English-speaking elite to lead them, or to prepare the ground for them to grab the attention or the support on a global scale. Twelve, the JVP movement was not internationalized to drag in the international community to intervene on their behalf.

These and other factors will reveal the extent of the Tamil political line that had influenced and misdirected the analysis of the ICG Report. Apart from this it is clear that the ICG Report is a rehash of the formulas written by the local NGO pundits. The strictures, the analysis and the prescriptions in the ICG Report could have been done by Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu or Kumar Rupesinghe eyes closed. In fact, the argument to restrain the GOSL by cutting aid was the theme of Saravanamuttu’s talk to the CSIS in New York, headed by the former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Teresita Schaffer.

Here a distinction needs to be drawn in the name of human rights. It is not in the interest of global peace, stability and prosperity to advocate, encourage, or manufacture excuses for the violations of human rights. But sometimes, as in the case of “just wars”, there are exceptional circumstances when, in the overall interests of protecting human rights threatened by brutal forces, it becomes necessary to fight fire with fire. The argument against this is that defenders of human rights cannot descend to the lower levels of the violators of human rights. However, the undeniable reality is that there isn’t a moral order that has come out of surrendering to the forces undermining human rights. Practically, every moral order has come out of violent struggles to win the human rights. Charters of human rights are valuable guides to protect a moral order. But invariably the triumph of any moral order has been a preceded by a struggle to overthrow the authoritarian and violent forces suppressing human rights.

Besides, violent politics strikes a moral posture of being above the law because of perceived grievances. The world is full of grievances but that does not give each and every disaffected group to resort to violence outside the framework of laws based on democratic consensus. Violence outside a democratic legal structure is a recipe for anarchy and not for protection of human rights. Democratic forces fighting forces outside the law can never eliminate violations of human rights or even excesses sometimes. The best they can do is to minimize such excesses.

Nevertheless, in Sri Lanka powerful forces, both foreign and local, exploit human rights issues to strengthen the authoritarian one-man rule by tying the hands of a democratically elected government that has maintained its democratic structures (with faults no doubt) against overwhelming forces of right-wing coups, left-wing uprisings and a terrorist force unleashed by mono-ethnic extremism. The contradictions are too stark to add any further comment. President Mahinda Rajapakse is fully aware of the negative impact of violating human rights and the ICG Report quotes him as saying that it tends to drive the Tamils into the hands of Prabhakaran. Apart from the political consequences human rights are treasured for the mutual benefits they bestow on the protectors and the recipients of these sacred values. Human dignity is dependent on human rights. Violence strips that dignity and dehumanizes society with no shared values to hold individuals together except hate.

Prabhakaran is the embodiment of hate. He packs his suicide bombers body belts with explosives of hate. He reduces his suicide bomber to a zombie driven only by pure hate. It is not love that turned human beings into precision bombers of Rajiv Gandhi and Premadasa. Each death is counted by him as a tribute to his glory. Each death is a fix that pumps his adrenalin. Graveyards of Tamil youth are kept meticulously clean to wipe out any stains of blood or memories of his guilt. The violence he unleashes confirms to him his arbitrary and unrestrained power over life and death. He has thrived so far on the power of his violence.

His minions are instructed to bring him videos of events that glorify him as a global power. They even took pictures of the body parts of Rajiv Gandhi flying in all directions of the compass. Those pictures make him believe that he can even make India dance to his tune. Where would he be today if he was persuaded to give up violence and embrace human rights? Would any Western diplomat queue up outside his den in the Vanni if he had failed to use his gun accurately? If the moral merchants in the NGO and diplomatic circles had evaluated the misguided eviction of 370 Tamils from Colombo (which, of course, was condemned and corrected by the judiciary and the GOSL) with that of the ethnic cleansing of the 50,000 Muslims from Jaffna by the Tamil Tigers (mark you, without any corrections so far) who should get the plaudits for protecting human rights?

Tragically, the lip service paid by the Western world to human rights had devalued these sacred tenets to a worthless piece of paper. Last Monday, for instance, a US-led air-strike killed seven children in an Afghan school. Did the British Ambassador in Washington walk into the State Department and read the riot act to the Americans? In Australia last Wednesday a police officer accused of killing an Aborigine locked up in a cell walked out free from a court. His defence was that the Aborigine broke four ribs, split his liver and punctured his portal vein when fell on his prisoner in a fight. The Aborigine died of internal haemorrhage within an hour. Medical experts said that it would require “massive force”, something like a knee”, to inflict those injuries. It doesn’t require much imagination to guess what the NGOs would have said about the judiciary if such a verdict was delivered in Sri Lanka against a Sinhala Police officer?

The ICG Report confuses the human rights violations of tbe south with the military efforts to beat the Tigers. Though one leads to the other in a vicious cycle they are two different issues. Given the nature of entrenched Tamil Tiger terrorism military responses, at times, are bound to be excessive. Without making excuses for those excesses, it is legitimate to ask those nations who accuse Sri Lanka of violating human rights a simple question: which nation fighting brutal enemies came out of their wars with clean hands? By all means, the international community has a duty to put pressure on Sri Lanka to curtail excesses. But in the process do they have a right to commit excesses of cutting aid as a punitive measure? This war, and consequently the violations of human rights arising from this war, would have ended if these Western nations proposing to cut aid had stopped the unlimited aid flowing out of their banks to finance Prabhakaran’s killing machine. This war – and the violations of human rights arising from this war – would have ended a long time ago if the nations calling for sanctions against Sri Lanka had cut off aid that flowed freely from their bases to Prabhakaran. Every bullet, gun, boats, planes came from Western funds. So who is responsible for keeping the war going for so long? And who is responsible for the violations of the human rights?

The ICG Report which blames every in sight does not look inwards at their guilt and responsibilities. It is their failure that had fuelled the fires of war in Sri Lanka. It is immoral and hypocritical for the ICG to press for cutting of aid to a democratic government fighting a terrorist war that had been financed by the Western nations. The ICG smugly passes the buck to GOSL. It talks of the several Western governments cracking down recently on the Tigers after letting them run in their backyards for decades. They sit in judgment over Sri Lanka, as some superior moral guardians, without taking any responsibility for the crimes they have committed in providing bases to raise funds, torture and extort money from their citizens, turn a blind eye to exporting terrorism from UK, for instance, saying that they had not violated British laws, and above all, refusing to act even now on the critical judicial remedy available to them to solve the problem. They are pussyfooting around human rights issues without going straight into the heart of the problem – the heart of darkness hidden in the jungles of Vanni.

The ICG Report comes almost near to it but at the critical point it turns away from the obvious, the necessary, the logical and the inevitable step – a step which it has taken in other instances where violations of human rights have reached intolerable levels. The international community has two major options: 1. military intervention for regime change as in Iraq and 2. hunting and charging political criminals who have a dismal record of violating human rights. Charles Taylor of Sierra Leone is the latest that is being tried by the UN prosecutors.

What explanation can the international community, along with their moral mates in the NGOs, give for not putting Prabhakaran on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity? The New York Times branded him as the “latest Pol Pot of Asia” who incarcerates Tamils who dare to even crack anti-Prabhakaran jokes. He is a criminal wanted by Interpol, India and Sri Lanka. He is banned in all countries respecting human rights. Oddly enough, the ICG Report even mentions the need for Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to visit Sri Lanka and negotiate with the GOSL. ICG also talks of making “other UN mechanisms” “more active”.

But “more active” for what? Is it to tie the hands of the GOSL or to maintain the status quo by providing further legitimacy and scope to perpetuate the one-man regime of the Tamil Pol Pot? Fed up with the violations of human rights perpetuated by a needless war political observers tend to agree that there will not be peace in Sri Lanka until Prabhakaran is removed from the political equation. This removal can take many forms. It may be a regime change. It may be a safe haven in Norway for Prabhakaran. It may be voluntary retirement. It may be a cyanide pill, if he chooses that exit. Or it may be a trial in an international criminal court set up by the UN.

If the ICG is genuinely concerned about the human rights issue in Sri Lanka why does it not take the initiative in filing the open-and-shut case against Prabhakaran? What is inhibiting it? Why isn’t the international community hunting him the way they hunted the war criminals in divided Yugoslavia? ICG knows that all its sanctions have failed to reform Prabhakaran. So what is ICG waiting for? What is its excuse? Is it going to claim that peace process will be hindered if he is put on trial? The reality is that the peace process has not gone anywhere and will not go anywhere as long as he remains as the man who calls the shots in the crisis. In one stroke the international community can immobilize him by de-legitimizing his violent politics and alienate him from the war-weary Tamils who are yearning for peace if a case is instituted against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The impact on the peace process would be electrifying. More than all the measures taken to stop the flow on funds from Tamil expatriates this legal move would paralyze the Tigers as never before. There isn’t a better means of protecting human rights than putting the man responsible for most of it behind bars.

But will ICG or Ms. Louise Arbour take this critical step? Considering the crimes he has committed against his own people – let alone the other communities – he should have been put on trial years ago. The credibility and the integrity of ICG and Ms. Arbour will rocket sky high if they move in this direction to defend and protect human rights. The victims of this needless war in Sri Lanka are sick to their back teeth of futile, finger-pointing reports. ICG should be sufficiently informed by now of the ground realities to know that the best option available is to indict the man who will never give peace either to his Tamil people, or to the other communities, or even to the region.

It is easy to write reports which generally tend to find excuses or legitimize violence of non-state actors in democratic societies. The hard part is in de-legitimizing violence of these armed groups which is a primary requirement to prevent violations of human rights. ICG sadly has taken the easy option. Failure to accept this legal remedy will make ICG another irrelevant producer of reports that are not even remotely connected to conflict resolution.

Footnote: Crisis Group works closely with governments and those who influence them, including the media, to highlight its crisis analyses and to generate support for its policy prescriptions.

The Crisis Group Board – which includes prominent figures from the fields of politics, diplomacy, business and the media – is directly involved in helping to bring the reports and recommendations to the attention of senior policy-makers around the world. Crisis Group is co-chaired by the former European Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten and former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering. Its President and Chief Executive since January 2000 has been former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.

Crisis Group’s international headquarters are in Brussels, with advocacy offices in Washington DC (where it is based as a legal entity), New York, London and Moscow. The organisation currently operates twelve regional offices (in Amman, Bishkek, Bogotá, Cairo, Dakar, Islamabad, Istanbul, Jakarta, Nairobi, Pristina, Seoul and Tbilisi) and has local field representation in sixteen additional locations (Abuja, Baku, Beirut, Belgrade, Colombo, Damascus, Dili, Dushanbe, Jerusalem, Kabul, Kampala, Kathmandu, Kinshasa, Port-au-Prince, Pretoria and Yerevan). Crisis Group currently covers nearly 60 areas of actual or potential conflict across four continents. In Africa, this includes Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Western Sahara and Zimbabwe; in Asia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; in Europe, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Georgia, Kosovo and Serbia; in the Middle East, the whole regionfrom North Africa to Iran; and in Latin America, Colombia, the rest of the Andean region and Haiti.

Crisis Group raises funds from governments, charitable foundations, companies and individual donors. The following governmental departments and agencies currently provide funding: Australian Agency for International Development, Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canadian International Development Agency, Canadian International Development Research Centre, Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, German Foreign Office, Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Principality of Liechtenstein Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand Agency for International Development, Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Ministry of Foreign affairs, United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom Department for International Development, U.S. Agency for International Development.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6263)